Captivating Kodai

Kodaikanal is a small hill station in Tamil Nadu. It is situated at an altitude of about 2,133-m high and covers an area of 21.45-sq-km with a population of around 40,000 whose prime occupation is agriculture and tourism.
We had a chance to visit this lovely place last weekend. Though winter is not a 'season' to visit the town this season has its own charm.
We took a train from Chennai to a small station called Kodai road where we landed in the early hours of Saturday. There was a car to pick us up from there. The journey through the twining roads on the mountain was a beauty. There were patches where we moved through the clouds which seemed trapped in the valley!

Considering we stay in Chennai the drop in temperature was huge for us. Added to it was the fact that when we landed in Kodai - as it is fondly called -it started to rain. We were shuddering and went straight up to our room in the resort and under the blanket!
In the afternoon the rain stopped for some time and we took a chance to go around the town. The narrow roads went up and down like a serpent. We could see the clouds covering the ends of the roads and the top of the mountains! And there were chocolates....and chocolates...everywhere every shop had an offering of homemade delicious chocolates rich with fruits and nuts...yummmm!
Sunday was true to its name and came along with the Sun. It was a bright, sunny, crispy and cold morning. We went out on a full day tour along with others from the resort. There are so many beautiful and breadth taking views of the valley and we kept moving from one to the other. Croaker's walk, Green valley view, pillar rocks, pine forest, lake view, the shanti valley, palani mountain view and a couple of temples and park filled our day, heart and mind. The day ended on the Kodai Lake where we hired a shikara and went for a ride.

Monday morning was equally good and we thought of going for some trekking. We saw a 500 year old tree on the way...still standing strong. The first place we went that day was Pambar Falls. To reach that one needs to go across a wall from the road and then keep going downhill for sometime till you see the wonderful cascading water body. We had to walk across the water rather hop over the boulders and stones. Once on the other side we realised we were in the forest proper!! The realisation was a chilling one. I asked the guide if there were any animals in there. He coolly said that there are mostly bison in the forest which wouldn’t come out during day and there are a few cheetahs. I was glad he told me! Then after a pause the guide went on to reveal that there are lots of pythons but no other poisonous snakes!! I couldn’t thank him enough for the information to which he grinned and said "But you don’t worry madam".
The track continued and after countless hurdles we reached another part of the cascading water body but here it was called the Vettakanal Falls - named after the village it flowed in. Next to that was a cave called the Lion's cave. It seems a couple of years ago a cheetah was staying there with its cubs. Once the cheetah wandered into one of the villages from where the forest officials captured it and sent it to the Vandaloor Zoo in Chennai. However, the cubs were still in the forest.
That was all to see there and we started to backtrack. Once on the road we felt relieved that we returned without meeting either the cheetah or the python :)
The next destination was a place called the Dolphin's nose. That’s one piece of rock hanging from the mountain top and gives a breadth taking view. But the catch was the steep downhill road that needed to be crossed to reach that spot. The road was full of big rocks, small stones, mud patches and tree roots. It was about a kilometre long stretch and took about an hour to reach the point. But we were beaten in the race by the clouds who suddenly appeared from nowhere and settled in the mountains. Yet the place was beautiful and scary. There was also an Echo point nearby. We tried some names but probably the clouds ate up our words :)
When we started to comeback we realised that the going downhill was the easiest thing we did that morning! It took a lot of time and lot of pauses before we reached our car.
That evening was our train to Chennai and we bid good bye to captivating Kodai.